Life Or Death?

Chapter 5

Matt

"Matty?" Andrea asked, coming down the stairs, brushing her hair away from her eyes. She had slept well all night - unlike me - and had now emerged from my bedroom. She still looked as bad as she had when she went to sleep. I had assumed that the rest would help her look less messy, but I was wrong.

 "Yeah Ray?" I said, calling her by the nickname I'd given her a while back. It was back when we had dated. 

"I'm scared," she whimpered, her voice sending ripples of anger down my spine. How could Jeff do this to her? He made her look so frail, and broken. Even if she didn't have all the bruises, she would look hollow. Next time I ran into him, I would beat the crap out of him for doing this to Andrea.

How was it that no one noticed the symptoms? Andrea had a million friends; at least one of them should have recognized it. But maybe her friends were just as bad as mine. Maybe they were all fake, and only hung out with them just to further their social status.

I wrapped my arms around her, allowing her to soak my shirt with her tears. "Shh..." I whispered, gently kissing the top of her head. "It's okay Andrea. I won't let him go anywhere near you." She seemed really messed up, and it was obvious that she needed help. But could I really help her deal with all of this when I sucked at dealing with bad events?

She sobbed a bit louder now, gripping me even tighter. I patted her back gently while she continued to cry. "It's alright, you have me," I reassured her, kissing her head once more. "Just let it all out..." She looked so delicate when she was crying like this.

The sound of the doorknob jiggling interrupted our moment, alerting me that someone was trying to get in the house. "One second," I told Andrea as I unwound her arms for around me and walked over to the door. I swung the door open, not expecting what I saw.

Standing outside, looking extremely murderous was my dad. I couldn't believe that he was actually home. It was definitely shocking. But the fact that he had his hands clenched into fists and was glaring at me definitely did not help with the situation.

He moved so fast, that I didn't even notice he'd punched me until I fell to the ground due to the impact. My dad had never really hit me, just the occasional beating, so this was definitely a shock for me.

"I thought I told you never to come back here again!" He roared, his voice filled with rage. Actually, he didn't say that - he had implied it. Big difference.

Anger surged through my veins as I stood up. This was too much for me to deal with. He had hurt me in more ways than one and made me kill myself. And he showed no remorse at all! And now when I come back to life, he still treats me the same way.

"This is my home too, or did you forget that Dad?" I exclaimed, glaring at him furiously. To the corner of my eye, I could see Andrea cowering in the corner, her eyes clouded with fear. I wanted to go over to her and comfort her, but something kept me where I was. Something that wanted me to get back at my dad for all these years of treating me like crap.

"Not anymore it isn't!" He said, a small sliver of defeat in his voice. I was confused as to why he'd sound defeated. If anything, I'd expect him to sound victorious. He's the one who got me on the ground! He's the one who got me to kill myself!

He let out a deep sigh, before looking at me, this time hurt in his eyes - not anger. "Your death caused a lot of problems Matty," He said gently, his words shocking me. This was the first time that he'd ever called me Matty in my life. It probably must have meant something - but what, I wasn't sure.

"What do you mean?" I asked, running a hand through my hair. "I mean, you always treated me like crap and hit me and now you're saying that my death caused some problems? Why would you even care about my death?